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Riposte
Riposte is a passive defensive skill that gives characters a chance (proportional to the skill proficiency) to stop an incoming swing and instantly counterattack with a single, primary-hand swing of their own. This skill is available to all tanks, melee offensive fighters, and offensive hybrids, but not to priests or casters. It is generally the last of the defensive skills learned as eligible classes advance through the game's first sixty levels. Mechanics Riposte can only trigger against attacks made against a character's frontal arc. Although riposte will always stop the damage from attacks when it triggers, the counterattack swing will not occur unless the character is standing within the correct range, and facing the proper direction, to be able to strike that opponent with an autoattack. (The cone in which autoattacks are possible is somewhat smaller than the 180-degree arc in which the defensive portion of the skill will function. Being attacked exactly from one's "side," for instance, will allow the damage prevention to happen but not the counterattack. This also applies to ripostes made by monsters against players.) The counterattack can still swing at foes even if they are not the character's current target, provided that the above range and facing restrictions are satisfied. The counterattack is an ordinary melee swing that comes from the weapon in the character's primary hand. Its chance to hit or miss is the same as for any other melee swing. The counterattack does not affect autoattack swing timing in any way. It is an entirely "free" swing that occurs in addition to whatever autoattacking might already be taking place. The counterattack can swing at enemies even while the character is casting spells. Swings resulting from ripostes cannot trigger combat procs. They can however crit, crippling blow or slay undead. (Confirm the nuances of all of this.) The Double Riposte AA provides a chance for the counterattack to deal two swings instead of one, and various other AAs provide a chance to execute a class-specific special attack (e.g. bash, kick, flying kick) as another bonus attack upon a successful riposte. A character with an item equipped in the primary hand that lacks damage and delay stats will not be able to counterattack on a riposte. (Confirm that the riposte swing-block can even happen in the first place this way?) Strategic Impact Riposte's ability to damage multiple foes - not just the character's primary target - makes it a key element in swarm tanking. More generally, optimizing one's damage from ripostes can substantially enhance one's DPS while tanking, which can be helpful for speeding up fights against foes who are not especially difficult to tank, or when playing in parties that have an abundance of healing and too little DPS. Since the damage dealt by Riposte scales with weapon damage and weapon damage bonus but is in not limited by the weapon's delay, high-delay two-handed weapons (which also have a high damage bonus) are generally ideal for maximizing DPS from ripostes. Such a setup is nearly always ideal while using an autoriposte discipline to guarantee riposting of all attacks for a brief period of time. However, a two-handed setup may not be ideal for general tanking, since its ability to mitigate damage (no shield) or and produce hate (less swing hate due to reduced frequency of autoattacks) will be weaker compared to other weapon setups. Warriors with Improved Shield Specialist or paladins and shadow knights using a knight sword may find a sword and board setup an ideal choice for combining high riposte damage with enhanced survivability from wielding a shield. Dual wielding is not optimal for maximizing either riposte damage or one's survivability while relying on it.